ebay came out beat on the bottom line by a penny. they are light on earning revenue as well. both stocks trading lower in the after-hou after-hours. >> it's been consistent with what we've seen with cost cutting being part of the story. >> that's it for "closing bell." i'll see you tomorrow. >> "fast money" starts now. thanks for joining us. welcome to "fast money." all eyes are on the developing story coming out of boston in the investigation of the attacks on the boston marathon. we want to go to sue herrera back at headquarters with what we know right now. sue? all right. sue is not there. so let's check in with scott cohn who is on the ground in boston with more on the situation. scott? >> reporter: sue, a lot of fits and starts here today. we had expected that there would be the first news conference, news briefing in 24 hours led by the fbi. that has been postponed. we have the official word from the fbi which is the lead agency in this investigation and let's

show you why it was postponed. within the last couple of hours, a bomb threat at the john joseph courthouse a couple of miles away from the blast site. it forced the evacuation of the courthouse. they brought in bomb sniffing dogs, firefighters, investigators to see what this was. within about an hour or so they got the all clear. and it was clear that the bomb threat was unrelated to the events here. somebody with fair to say a somewhat twisted mind. in any event, the news that will come out that we expect to come out about what's been going on and what's been sort of the news blackout has been postponed because everyone was thrown off by this bomb threat. and in that blackout, that kind of news vacuum, a lot of misinformation flowed right into that. including reports about 1:00 this afternoon that there may have been a suspect or suspects in custody. that was quickly knocked down or

ultimately knocked down by the fbi with an admonition to the media to be careful what you report. this is an ongoing investigation and sensitive investigation. we have seen a great deal of activity near the site of the bombing which is a couple of blocks from where i'm standing. we saw evidence technicians going literally from the ground underneath cars and porta potties up to the rooftops getting whatever else they can. and i can tell you that within the last few minutes we've seen them picking up some of the police barricades. so what this suggests -- and it may or may not be the case -- but what it suggests is they may have been doing a sort of last sweep today before they open that important thoroughfare up to traffic. the evidence gathered thus far has been important. fragments of the bomb -- the bombs, the backpacks that were apparently used to encase them.

and there also have been reports by law enforcement sources reporting to nbc news that there has been a fair amount of video evidence including things like somebody putting a backpack or a bag down near the finish line on monday afternoon. but remember, with hundreds of people there, there were a lot of people that put things down that doesn't necessarily mean that it was the bomber. more about some of what was uncovered from the fbi special agent in charge at yesterday's briefing, let's hear again what he had to say. >> we are asking anyone who may have heard someone speak about the marathon or the date of april 15th in any way that indicated that he or she may target the event to call us. someone knows who did this. >> reporter: special agent rick deslauriers yesterday. there has been a tremendous

response. it sounds like some of that has led to what law enforcement forces are telling nbc news are solid leads. but we won't hear anything more about what those are until they can get back to work following that bomb threat back at the courthouse. back to you. >> thank you very much. scott cohn live for us in boston. and we should note that president obama is expected to make comments from the rose garden of the white house on reducing gun violence. that happens at 5:30 p.m. eastern time. we'll bring you those comments as soon as they come. meantime, let's get to the other big market story of the day. that's the selloff we've seen. karen finer man and dan nathan. so let's get straight to it. we had a major selloff. we had tremendous weakness when it comes to energy, technology, financials. steve, what did you make of the action today? >> we stopped really at the 50-day moving average in the s&p cash. but what we did have pressure on is what we've deny talking about. utilities, those staple stocks. if you look a dominion, s.o.

southern, mcdonald's. those are names where people are hiding until they know whether or not it's safe to get back in the market place. >> dan? >> you mentioned technology. here's one. apple was down closing a new 52-week low. this is a name that has by f bifurcated from the market. in a week we're going to get massive earnings from google, ibm tonight. these are cyclical names so they're not setting up that well right now. so, you know, i think you have to avoid some of these things. especially a name like google that saw heavy inflows from all this apple weakness. if you don't think people will have their eyes there, you have to be careful. >> gold got no bid whatsoever. it was higher earlier in the session. turned and finished the day up by just a touch. what do you make of that? >> and volatility came out of that. to feed off what these gentlemen said and they're right,

especially with energy, i think if you see margin selling like we saw in gold and you see that in oil which we haven't seen as aggressively. not nearly as aggressively as we have in gold. that could put a lot of the drillers off pretty significantly. i was seeing people, big institutions, pull back from esv, diamond offshore, drill, sdrl. i was seeing them pull back from those dramatically because i think, melissa, they're anticipating the big oil companies saying i'm putting a lot of projects on hold until oil stabilizes at a level. >> karen, i know you're a value investor. you're longer term. but does this selloff concern you? >> it does a little bit. i didn't do a lot today. the one thing i did do is i sold some mdy puts so we have small cap, mid-cap puts against our portfolio. sold those today which didn't feel great, but may be the right thing to do. and i had my buy list out. don't like to see bank of

america get hit as hard as it was. >> it got pummelled. >> i don't think they were that disappointing. i would like to buy more. i'll probably wait another day before i do that. for me, it is a little disconcerting. i don't like to see things react the way gold has. >> with some of these things you mentioned bank of america. for the most part this is where we've seen the bulk of earnings so far in the financials. i think it's good news in the stocks right here. >> so they were due for a pullback, you're saying? >> i dovr covered it. the stock was down. in the last days it hit a level here. i think karen's right. to have that buy list. has this market done every selloff? they bought them. you've got to take what the market gives. >> i get that premise. that's what got us here. the financials had a tremendous run, et cetera, when it comes to technology, they get clobbered in today's session.

>> right. >> no love whatsoever. >> i had apple today on my shopping list. i own it. and when it traded below 400, i had the itch. i had to do something. the buyers buying apple at this levels have something to do with the dividend or a new product announcement. i'm in the trade camp. i think at this point apple is very appealing at the range. >> i think you're kind of lucky, too, to wait and be as patient as you have to add to any positions you've got. because when you look at, for instance, the warnings that have come out. it's all about this upcoming quarter. in other words, like for instance ebay. ebay numbers, decent. even sandisk, decent numbers. but it's this coming quarter that they're so concerned about this next three months. the full-year numbers look pretty good. so in other words what i'm saying is google and apple. if you're buying those because of this pretty significant

ratcheting down of opinions and so forth, i think you're getting a lot of cushion built into that one. even if there is a bad -- or a bit of a misstep. because they've been taken down so far ahead of the earnings. the ones at the beginning of the cycle, bad. the ones that are reporting in the next week or so, probably good for them. >> speaking of earnings, let's get to a couple of earnings movers in the after-hours session. let's go to josh lipton. >> two names report after the bell. and both disappoint. ebay just beats on the bottom line and just misses on the top line. the real problem as dr. j was saying, ebay offers up a weak forecast. dropping in the after-hours. also american express, the credit card company beats on the bottom line. card member spending which focuses on affluent customers rises 7%. that is the fourth successive quarters of single digit growth after nine of double digit

growth. >> let's touch on ebay here. why are we surprised when the stock is up 11% since investor day on march 15th? >> that's a great question. i think what they did back then was there was a lot of enthusiasm. they talked about paypal. the growth there getting. this is a company that offered out guidance to 2015 that is basically offering mid-teens to high teens growth rates for the next three years. investors got in there and bought it. here you have to what dr. j is saying, expectations were really high. what'd they do? they guided a little softer for q 2. this is a smart management. this stock today closing was 3% off of ten-year highs. they're giving themselves a little cushion here. >> you still like the paypal part? >> i do. >> even if they're going into the bricks and mortars retailers, they could be sacrificing margins. >> i don't own it here. i do like the business. i do every once in awhile look at verifone. they're competitor in that part

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last check on stocks, sandisk falling as well as the revenue side. so dr. j delving into the numbers. >> it was off worse. this is a little bit better than as bad as it got. it's a bit about what josh lipton was talking about. the quarter being light. full year is going to be okay. i think if you can get this one in the 52 range, melissa, that's a pretty good buy. it would be about $7 under the recent high. be patient. >> let's talk about another mover in the after-hours session. that is ebay. but weak guidance is dragging down shares in the after-hours session. collin gillis is a tech at bcg. he joins us on the fast line. you're saying forget about the current quarter guidance because they're sticking by the full

year. why are you willing to look through this? >> when you look at ebay, right, if you get a chance to buy this on a pullback, you want to take advantage of it. because you've got a company that's got two businesses both of which are firing strongly on both cylinders. you know, the fact that the june quarter is lighter on expectations but the full year is maintained, it just means we've got seasonality off. >> are you pointing at both market place as well as paypal as reasons to stick by the stock? as well as it coming to bricks and mortar to the true retailers, the store front. they could be sacrificing margins. that's not a concern at all in the next couple of quarters for you? >> it's not a concern because it's such a tremendous opportunity for them. if they can get, you know, even a small degree of traction. it represents, you know, a significant market opportunity. and the thing that really gets me excited is if you look at how the active user growth base has been not only growing but

accelerating. we got north of 5 million new paypal users. that's growth of 16% year over year. that's up from, you know, around the 12%, 13% earlier. same thing in the markets. we got 116 million active users. that's growth of 14%. to see that number accelerating, that's a good indicator. >> so you would buy ebay on the weakness. >> absolutely. >> switch gears with me. talk apple with me for a couple seconds here. the people who are buying apple at these levels are basing it on dividend or new product. which of those or all of the above? >> all of the above. i think you have to ask yourself has the weak june quarter been factored in? you look at estimates. there's about 46 estimates for apple. ten have been dropped for the june quarter. there's probably still more work that needs to be done to reflect what will accurately happen. >> sew haven't seen the whites

of the eyes of the bulls at this point. you need to see sort of that fear just come out there and be exposed by wall street before we can get around apple here. >> you know, look. the march quarter, they did preannounce. that's not likely to be a disaster. and we know june is likely to have weakness. the data points are coming out pointing to that. you are not likely to get much new product in that time frame. but you do have more product coming in the back half of the year. >> but there were margin products and they might have to do promotional spend to promote that product. >> correct. those are all possibilities. but the problem with apple is it keeps getting lower. >> that's a major problem for investors who like to buy low and see the stock rise. collin, we're running out of time here but i want to get your take on google since we're expecting the report tomorrow. there has been a comparison made here on "fast" occasionally that google is the next apple. would you agree?

>> you know, the last three march quarters, march quarter results started a retracement in the stock. if you look at the software google is doing, great products, great company. if you get a pullback because it is heavily owned, that would be an opportunity to take advantage of getting in the back half of the year. >> collin, great to speak with you. thank you. >> thank you. >> collin gillis of bgc. his comments on apple, you satisfied with that? >> no. because i would have rather he said it was baked in as john said. can i scratch collin and just go back to john's statement? >> selective memory here. >> it's becoming a treacherous setup going into tuesday's earnings. the stock does not see an uptick. it closed really on the dead lows. at a new low here. >> yeah. >> this is a company that's going to have $150 billion in cash on its balance sheet. they have a market cap. they still have nearly -- >> they raised the dividend. >> i think the case on apple is fantastic but the problem is the

stock keeps going down. >> i'm going to tell you this right now. i think it's probably the buy of the century -- >> the buy of the century. dan says it here on "fast." >> above 4% and they have $150 billion in cash, i think you just buy this short everything else. >> stay tuned. we are awaiting president obama to comment on gun violence in just a few minutes. we'll bring you those comments as soon as they begin. coming up the biggest stock numbers of the day. and who could be the game changer in the smart phone business? much more "fast" straight ahead. we went out and asked people a simple question: how old is the oldest person you've known? we gave people a sticker and had them show us.

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we've had a bit of a debate here on the desk during the break. a heated one about what dan nathan actually said about apple. in terms of calling it the buy of the century, at what point is apple the buy of the century. >> i'm fairly certain i said on the next puke. >> that is what? zl the next 5% down move on rates. if they come in lined with lowered expectations but guide

june kind of soft and then do not have the news people are expecting, i think you see the stock back to the 370 level. i think down there, that's the buy of the century? >> so it's 25 points. >> i think it's 5% to 10%. >> let's move on. fast or fiction. china will see a selloff in the next month? dr. j, you have seen some pretty bearish activity on the side which led you to this conclusion. >> it's the buy of the last ten minutes. this was a very large trade, folks. and a serious one. because somebody made about $15 million by buying a whole bunch of puts in the fxi, the china etf. they made that over the last couple weeks. they bought 50,000 of these puts at the april 30 strike. they ran a $3 profit. they didn't take it off the table. they sold those and bought the

may 35 puts which were at the money. so when tanner was with us, when we were talking about this, that's a $16 million bet on an at the money premium. you don't see people doing that. that's the biggest trade of this year in any index that i've seen. the single biggest trade. and somebody really thinks that china could have that same puking action that dan's referring to on apple. >> but the crazy thing is it's not exactly correlated to the shanghai comp. it's down on the year. it's one of the worst performing large indices. and people are committing that sort of capital at these levels. it's very interesting. >> let's hit the big movers of the day. >> these guys came in line and kind of guided in line. but this is one of those defensive sectors that's trading at all-time highs. >> dropper, halliburton down 5%.

dr. j? >> this is what we're talking about with the drillers and so forth. support for the oil stocks. halliburton just taking it hard down 5%. but esv, diamond offshore, all of them hit. i think they could see more pressure if we see crude oil drift lower. >> had a drop for csx. >> they reported earnings. and eps was all right. but if you look at year on year performance, revenue was down. coal prices are down. container prices are down. and fuel costs are up. that's not really a great recipe for them. that said, at 13 times i think we might see things close to the bottom here. >> that was our abbreviated version today. the president's comments set to start in just a moment's time. live pictures from the rose garden. we'll bring that when it happens. back right after this.

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welcome back to "fast." the issue of public safety has been front and center given the developments in boston. gun violence another issue being

taken up today. earlier today members of the senate rejecting a plan that would have expanded background checks. president obama is expected to deliver a statement on gun violence shortly. so let's go to john horwood with what we can expect. john, in terms of what we can expect, will that dog tail at all with the situation in boston? >> reporter: i don't think so. we know the president is going to be appearing with members of some families effected in newtown. we keep hearing from the white house, from vice president biden, from the senate democratic leadership that they don't consider this background check issue a dead letter even though it fell six votes short of breaking the filibuster that stopped it. got a 54 vote majority in favor. actually 55 before senator reed changed his vote for technical reasons. but it is not clear to me how exactly they can make happen later on what they couldn't make

happen today. but nevertheless, i expect the president to continue to put pressure on lawmakers. and given all the confusion, melissa, out of boston today about where exactly the investigation stands, i would expect the president to steer clear from that. especially since we're expecting to hear from law enforcement later this evening. >> it's interesting, john, that we're told that the president is going to issue a statement as opposed to taking questions. will shut off any questions about that fluid situation we witnessed this afternoon. >> exactly. typically in a case like this, the president will have one discreet message he wants to get out. and when it's not a day when he wants to have a news conference and try to engage with reporters, he'll simply put that message out and leave the press to shout at him and not answer. certainly i would expect that to be true on any shouting questions about boston but also on the gun issue as well. >> so there's expected to be a

certain amount of strong arming when it comes to this proposed legislation. and this comes ahead of what is expected to be a dinner, right? a bipartisan dinner tonight the president is having. >> well, i don't know about strong arming, but what the president's trying to do is continue to put pressure on members of congress to get them to go along on this gun issue. which, remember, was something that was a late entrant onto his agenda. he had not been pushing this until after newtown. he clearly felt some remorse for not having pushed that issue earlier in his presidency. he's trying to move it. he's gotten help from mike bloomberg and gabby giffords and some of the newtown family members here. they had a few democrat who is voted no. they lost some republicans who they thought might come over on their side. and so it is not clear to me again whether or not they're just engaging in some sort of never say die cheerleading on this issue. and hoping against hope or

whether there's a particular strategy that would be designed to get it across the finish line. but remember, there will be gun legislation even in the absence of that proi guess. there's gun trafficking, mental health provisions moving through. so they've got a ways to go. the president still seems to think he can effect the bigger issue of background checks. >> thank you john harwood in d.c. we're awaiting president obama to make a statement on gun violence. we'll bring that right after this break. stay tuned.

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comments. in the meantime, ebay still trading lower in the after-hours session. it has just given guidance. let's go to jon fortt in san jose with more on that. jon? >> yeah, melissa. we did have guidance already, but they are talking about exactly how they plan to get to that guidance in terms of them maintaining their full-year guidance. even though the numbers look a little light revenuewise thus far in the year. they say they have the second half growing faster as they said in january. through the first half of the year. also users growing faster than revenue in some cases. they're saying that's happening because less engaged at first. and they hope as they get those people reengaged that they will start spending more. ebay pointed to the fact that total payment volume on paypal doing quite well. it does look like there are marketing costs on the paypal side. gsi commerce, that's the tools they're supplying to other merchants. that looks about flat with

margins down a bit. but paypal's percentage of checkout is up at 14%. >> all right. thank you very much, jon fortt. ebay again moving in the after-hours session. dan, would you be a buyer on this as collin gillis recommended? >> i like the $50 level and i'll tell you why. there's few cap tech companies that show the long-term growth like these dies do with drivers like paypal and marvegt place. i think it's a great buy for the growth you're getting there. they've already laid out the long-term. i think you'll want to see it come your way. >> all right. sandisk also another mover in the after-hours session. it was a beat on both the top and bottom line. as for the full-year guidance that was in line with what wall street was expecting. look at the recovery in the after-hours sigs. actually, i'm sorry. the president just stepped out into the rose garden with a statement. let's go there right now. >> it feels like it was just yesterday.

in our deepest grief we were supported by the love of our families and comforted by the love and prayers we received from millions of america. from every corner of the country. what happened in newtown can happen anywhere. in any instant. any dad in america could be in my shoes. no one should feel the pain. no one should feel our pain or the pain felt by the tens of thousands of people who've lost loved ones to senseless gun violence. and that's why we're here. two weeks ago, 12 of us from newtown came to meet with u.s. senators and have a conversation about how to bring common sense solutions to the issues of gun violence. we came with a sense of hope, optimistic that real conversation could begin that would ultimately save the lives

of so many americans. we met with dozens of democrats and republicans and shared with them pictures of our children, our spouses, our parents who lost their lives on december 14th. expanded background checks wouldn't have saved our loved ones, but still we came to support the bipartisan proposal from two senators both with "a" ratings from the nra. a common sense proposal supported by 90% of americans. it's a proposal that will save lives without interfering with the rights of responsible, law-abiding gun owners. we'll return home now, disappointed but not defeated. we return home with the determination that change will happen. maybe not today, but it will happen. it will happen soon. we've always known this would be a long road, and we don't have the luxury of turning back.

we will keep moving forward and build public support for common sense solutions in the areas of mental health, school safety, and gun safety. we take strength from the children and loved ones that we lost. and we carry a great faith in the american people. on behalf of the sandy hook promise, i would like to thank president obama, vice president biden for their leadership and for standing strong and continuing to fight for a safer america. i would like to thank senators toomey, mansion, kirk for coming together. i would like to thank connecticut's senators blumenthal and murphy. they've been right with us. they stood by us right from the very beginning. from the first few hours after this tragedy, they were with us. we will not be defeated. we are not defeeled and we will

not be defeated. we are here now. we will always be here because we have no other choice. we are not going away. and every day as more people are killed in this country because of gun violence, our determination grows stronger. we leave washington hoping that others both here and across the country will join us in making the sandy hook promise. a pledge that we had great hope that more u.s. senators would take literally. i'd like to end by repeating the words by which the sandy hook promise begins. our hearts are broken. our spirit is not. thank you. it is now my great pleasure to introduce the president of the united states of america, barack obama.

>> good job. a few months ago in response to too many tragedies including the shootings of a united states congresswoman, gabby giffords, who's here today. and the murder of 20 innocent school children and their teachers. this country took up the cause of protecting more of our people from gun violence. families that know unspeakable grief summon the courage to petition their elected leaders. not just to honor the memory of their children, but to protect the lives of all of our children. a few minutes ago a minority in the united states senate decided it wasn't worth it.

they blocked common sense gun reforms even as these families looked on from the senate gallery. by now it's well known that 90% of the americans support universal background checks to make it harder for a person to buy a gun. convicted felonies, people convicted of domestic violence, people with mental illness. 90% of americans support that idea. most americans think that's already the law. and a few moments ago senators voted for that idea. but it's not going to happen. because 90% of republicans in the senate just voted against that idea. a majority of senators voted yes to protecting more of our citizens with smarter background checks.

but by this continuing distortion of set rules, a minority was able to block it from moving forward. i'm going to speak plainly and honestly about what's happened here. because the american people are trying to figure out how can something have 90% support and yet not happen. we had a democrat and a republican, both gun owners, both fierce defenders of our second amendment with "a" grades from the nra. come together and work together to write a common sense compromise on background checks. and i want to thank joe manchin and pat toomey for their courage in doing that. that was not easy given their traditional strong support for second amendment rights. as they said, nobody could honestly claim that the package

they put together infringed on our second amendment rights. all it did was extend the same background check rules that already apply to guns purchased from a dealer to guns purchased at gun shows or over the internet. so 60% of guns are already purchased through a background check system. this would have covered a lot of the guns that are currently outside that system. shows respect for gun owners and respect for victims of gun violence. gabby giffords, by the way is both. she's a gun owner and a victim of gun violence. she supports these background checks. in fact, even the nra used to support expanded background checks. the leader of the nra used to support these background checks.

so while this compromise didn't contain everything i wanted or everything that these families wanted, it did represent progress. it represented moderation and common sense. that's why 90% of the american people supported it. but instead of supporting this compromise, the gun lobby and its allies willfully lied about the bill. they claimed that it would create some sort of big brother gun registry. even though the bill did the opposite. this legislation, in fact, outlawed any registry. plain and simple. right there in the text. but that didn't matter. and unfortunately this pattern of spreading untruths about this legislation served a purpose. because those lies upset an

intense minority of gun owners. and that in turn intimidated a lot of senators. and i talked to several of these senators over the past few weeks. and they're all good people. i know all of them were shocked by tragedies like newtown. and i also understand they come from states that are strongly progun. i said there are regional differences when it comes to guns. and that both sides have to listen to each other. but the fact is most of these senators could not offer any good reason why we wouldn't want to make it harder for criminals and those with severe mental illnesses to buy a gun. there were no coherent arguments as to why we wouldn't do this. it came down to politics. the worry that that vocal minority of gun owners would

come after them in future elections. they worried that the gun lobby would spend a lot of money and paint them as anti-second amendment. obviously a lot of republicans had that fear, but democrats had that fear too. and so they caved to the pressure. and they started looking for an excuse, any excuse to vote no. one common argument i heard was that this legislation would prevent all future massacres. and that's true. as i said from the start, no single piece of legislation can stop every act of violence and evil. we learned that tragically just two days ago. but if action by congress could have saved one person, one child, a few hundred, a few thousand, if it could have

prevented those people from losing their lives to gun violence in the future while preserving our second amendment rights, we had an obligation to try. and this legislation met that test. and too many senators failed theirs. i've heard some say that blocking this step would be a victory. my question is a victory for who? a victory for what? all that happened today was the preservation of the loophole that lets dangerous criminals buy guns without a background check. that didn't make our kids safer. victory for not doing something that 90% of americans, 80% of republicans, the vast majority of your constituents wanted to get done? it begs the question who are we here to represent?

i've heard folks say that having the families of victims lobby for this legislation was somehow misplaced. a prop, somebody called them. emotional blackmail, some outlets said. are they serious? do we really think that thousands of families whose lives have been shattered by gun violence don't have a right to weigh in on this issue? do we think their emotions, their loss is not relevant to this debate? so all in all this was a pretty shameful day for washington. but this effort is not over. i want to make it clear to the american people, we can still bring about meaningful changes

that reduce gun violence so long as the american people don't give up on it. even without congress, my administration will keep doing everything it can to protect more of our communities. we'll address the barriers that prevents states from participating in the existing background check system. we're going to give law enforcement more information about lost and stolen guns so it can do its job. we're going to help to put in place emergency plans to protect our children in their schools. but we can do more if congress gets its act together. and if this congress refuses to listen to the american people and pass common sense gun legislation, then the real impact is going to have to come from the voters. to all the people who supported this legislation, law enforcement and responsible gun owners, democrats and republicans, urban moms, rural

hunters, whoever you are you need to let your representatives in congress know that you are disappointed and if they don't act this time, you will remember come election time. to the wide majority of nra households who supported this legislation, you need to let your leadership and lobbyists in washington know they didn't represent your views on this one. the point is those who care deeply about preventing more and more gun violence will have to be as passionate and as organized and as vocal as those who blocked these common sense steps to help keep our kids safe. ultimately you outnumber those who argue the other way. but they're better organized, they're better financed, they've been at it longer.

and they make sure to stay focused on this one issue during election time. and that's the reason why you can have something that 90% of americans support and you can't get it through the senate or the house of representatives. so to change washington, you the american people are going to have to sustain some passion about this. and when necessary you've got to send the right people to washington. and that requires strength. and it requires persistence. and that's the one thing that these families should have inspired in all of us. i still don't know how they have been able to muster up the strength to do what they've been doing over the last several weeks. last several months. and i see this as just round one.

when newtown happened, i met with these families and i spoke to the community and i said something must be different right now. we're going to have to change. and that's what the whole country said. everybody talked about how we were going to change something. to make sure this didn't happen again. just like everybody talked about how we needed to do something after aurora. everybody talked about we need to change something after tucson. and i'm assuming that the emotions that we've all felt since newtown, the emotions that we've all felt since tucson and aurora and chicago, the pain we share with these families and families all across the country who've lost a loved one to gun

violence, i'm assuming that's not a temporary thing. i'm assuming our expressions of grief and our commitment to do something different to prevent these things from happening are not empty words. i believe we're going to be able to get this done. sooner or later, we are going to get this right. the memories of these children demand it and so do the american people. thank you very much, everybody. >> and that was the president making a very forceful statement from the rose garden of the white house on the need to expand gun control. let's go to john harwood with his take on these communities. he took to task lawmakers, the minority of lawmakers who opposed this bill. and he also went as far as to call the nra and other lobbyists liars. >> this was as angry as i've

seen this president throughout his term. he said the nra and other opponents willfully lied about the legislation. he called it a shameful day. he said those who opposed this had no coherent arguments, they simply caved to pressure. and finally he exhorted proponents to match the intensity of those on the other side. said he's not giving up yet. but you've got to conclude on this basis of this vote when they fell five votes short of breaking that filibuster, that's it's an up-hill fight ahead. >> it was also interesting that the president directed the notion he would be using the families as a prop, and he was angry about that as well. >> that's an idiotic argument that you hear from proponents of the background check. the idea that as the president said, that people who are motivated by having lost family

members that somehow it's ill legitimate to use them in the debate. everybody's got a voice in the debate. the nra's got a voice in the debate. i think he was addressing a comment that rand paul made. that is a reflection from opponents of they don't like the fact that that emotional pressure is being put on them. but that's tough in politics. you get emotional pressure on both sides. but rand paul's side won today. and as i said on the basis of the evidence so far, they're likely to win this down the road. >> yeah. the president made clear that this is round one. so what are the next steps for this legislation, john? >> you've got other elements of the legislation, melissa, that involve cutting down on gun trafficking, straw purchases, try to limit some of the ways in which people evade the existing law. you've also got some provisions about mental health treatment and trying to have records sharing among different jurisdictions so when background checks do occur, that

information about mental health -- if someone has mental health issues, that that gets to be part of that background check. and so there is a piece of legislation that's moving on the hill that is likely to get past in some fashion, but it's not going to include -- what we know so far. unless round two comes out better for the president than round one. it's not going to include this center piece provision. >> thanks so much. that does it for us here on "fast money." "mad money" starts right after this break. hello!

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